InHealth to undercut competitors by up to 24 percent once it joins Obamacare exchange

On average, premiums for health plans bought on the federal Health Insurance Marketplace will increase by 13 percent for individual coverage in 2015 and 11 percent for small businesses, according to calculations released Thursday by the Ohio Department of Insurance.

However, the department did not highlight the aggressive entry of InHealth, a Westerville-based nonprofit co-op created under the law that is entering the federal exchange for the first time in 2015. InHealth sold plans direct to consumers and small businesses for 2014 coverage.

Even though InHealth said those open-market rates will increase by an average of 9 percent in 2015, rates it reported to the state for its products on the exchange undercut competitors by about 24 percent.

Also, in response to questions from Columbus Business First, Dayton-based CareSource said its average statewide increase will be 2 percent, and rates will decline in the Dayton region. The Medicaid managed care nonprofit started selling to non-Medicaid members on the exchange last year.

The department’s release did not mention the tax credits and subsidies available for individual and family coverage bought on the federal exchange.

Overall, 16 companies filed rates for the individual market, with premiums averaging $374 monthly, up from $333 in 2014, for individual and family coverage. Eight companies filed rates averaging $447 in the small group market, up from $402 last year.

“It’s bad news, no doubt, but it’s what we expected,” said a statement from Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, a Republican who wants the Affordable Care Act repealed.

I spent a few hours this morning going through the up to 200-page rate filings that the department has made public. (Depending on the legal structure of the insurer, some filings don’t get released until rates are approved.)

Only three of the insurers sell small group plans in Central Ohio: Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Ohio, Medical Mutual of Ohio and newcomer InHealth, which is the trade name of Coordinated Health Mutual Inc.

InHealth projected its average monthly premium for individuals would be $344, $30 less than the state average.

For a “silver” group plan, in the law’s bronze-silver-gold-platinum scale, Anthem’s base rate per member in Columbus for the first quarter of 2015 will be $379, Medical Mutual’s $370, and InHealth’s $301. Those base rates get adjusted by the age of each employee and dependent, tripling for those 65 and older.

By comparison, online insurance seller eHealth Inc. (NASDAQ:EHTH) on Thursday released the average premiums offered to customers buying individual and family coverage that was not on the federal exchange. The analysis covered 213,000 insurance applications submitted during the nationwide open enrollment period October through March.

For Ohio, the average individual plan off the exchange was $289 a month and family coverage was $697. However, that average was skewed by 20 percent of shoppers selecting minimal “catastrophic” coverage available only off the exchange. The national average premium was $328 for off-exchange coverage at the “silver” level.